David Cameron pledges to ‘crush’ racism in football at No 10 summit

David Cameron has pledged to act quickly and ‘crush’ what he said was the ‘worrying return of racism’ to professional football in the UK.

Onside: David Cameron and John Barnes in No 10 today (Picture: PA)

Speaking at a summit in Downing Street attended by John Barnes and Graeme Le Saux among others, the prime minister admitted racism had ‘crept back in’.

Racism in English football has become a major issue after a series of high-profile incidents this season.

Liverpool’s Luis Suarez was recently forced to apologise by his club for refusing to shake Patrice Evra ‘s hand in his comeback game after serving an eight-match ban for racially abusing the Manchester United defender.

And England manager Fabio Capello resigned after his captain John Terry was stripped of the armband by the Football Association when he was told he would stand trial in the summer over allegations he racially abused QPR’s Anton Ferdinand – charges the Chelsea defender denies.

Beginning the summit, Mr Cameron said efforts to tackle racism in football had been a ‘fantastic achievement’ over the past two decades.

Amal Fashanu arrives at Downing Street (Picture: Getty)

‘But we have some problems still today,’ he said.

‘We need to act quickly to make sure those problems do not creep back in.

‘I hope what we can agree today is to make sure that everybody who has the ability to deal with this issue takes the steps they can.

‘I am sure we can crack this problem.’

Today’s summit is also addressing homophobia in the game, with documentary-maker Amal Fashanu – whose uncle Justin, the UK’s openly gay footballer, hanged himself 14 years ago – in attendance.

Some critics have pointed fingers at the clubs, many whom are said to be openly ignoring the issue.

Earlier this week, those same critics pointed to the fact that, of the 116 fully professional teams in England, only 16 had signed up to an anti-homophobia action group.